Shared Prosperity (or Lack Thereof) in the Sharing Economy

This paper examines the potential economic spillover effects of a home sharing platform—Airbnb—on the growth of a complimentary local service—restaurants. By circumventing traditional land-use regulations and providing access to underutilized inventory, Airbnb attracts visitors to outlets that are not traditional tourist destinations. Although visitors generally bring significant spending power, it is unclear whether visitors use Airbnb only primarily for lodging and thus do not contribute to the adjacent economy. To evaluate this, we focus on the impact of Airbnb on restaurant employment growth across locales in New York City (NYC). Specifically, we focus on areas in NYC that did not attract a significant tourist volume prior to the emergence of a home-sharing service. Our results indicate a salient and economically significant positive spillover effect on restaurant job growth in an average NYC locality. A one-percentage-point increase in the intensity of Airbnb activity (Airbnb reviews per household) leads to approximately 1.7% restaurant employment growth. Since home-sharing visitors are lodging in areas that are not accustomed to tourists, we also investigate the demographic and market-structure-related heterogeneity of our results. Notably, restaurants in areas with a relatively high number of White residents disproportionately benefit from the economic spillover of Airbnb activity, whereas the impact in majority-Black areas is not statistically significant. Thus, policy makers must consider the heterogeneity in the potential economic benefits as they look to regulate home-sharing activities.

Offshoring, Automation, Low-Skilled Immigration, and Labor Market Polarization

We show that the observed polarization of employment toward the high- and low-skill occupations disappears when only native workers are considered. Instead, low-skilled immigration explains employment growth at the low tail of the skill distribution. Moreover, while employment rose, wages remained subdued in low-skill occupations. A data-disciplined structural model accounts for this evidence: Offshoring and automation negatively affect middle-skill occupations but enhance employment and wages for the high-skilled. Low-skill employment is sheltered from offshoring and automation, as it consists of manual, non-tradable services. However, low-skilled immigration depresses low-skill wages and encourages native workers to move into skilled occupations through training. (JEL F16, J24, J31, J61, M53)

The Contingent Effects of Intrateam Abusive Behavior on Team Thriving and New Venture Performance

This study sheds light on the dark side of entrepreneurship by examining how and under what conditions abusive behavior within new venture teams (NVTs) relates to new venture performance. Using a national (USA) random sample of NVTs, we find that the relationship of intrateam abusive behavior (i.e., degree to which NVT members exhibit “hostile” verbal behaviors toward each other) with new venture performance (i.e., sales and employment growth) is mediated by NVT thriving (i.e., level of vitality and learning exhibited within the NVT). Results further demonstrate that perceived competitive intensity of the industry moderates this relationship, with the indirect effect of intrateam abusive behavior on new venture performance (via thriving) being significantly less negative at high, than at low, levels of competitive intensity. We therefore conclude that perceived competitive threats to the survival of startups act to mitigate the otherwise deleterious effects of abusive behavior occurring within NVTs. These results broaden existing knowledge regarding the dark side of entrepreneurship by expanding the conversation on this topic to include the NVT and providing evidence for why some NVTs, but not others, are able to sustain the growth of their firms despite the occurrence of abusive behavior between their members.

Skill-relatedness and employment growth of firms in times of prosperity and crisis in an oil-dependent region

Many studies have shed light on the positive side of relatedness, but little attention has yet been devoted to possible downsides of relatedness for firm performance in regions. We found in a case study of the oil-dependent Stavanger region in Norway that plants in industries that are skill-related to the dominant oil and gas industry showed lower employment growth than plants in other industries. This was the case both in the boom and the crisis periods, even when controlling for supply linkages to the oil and gas sector. However, we also found that plants skill-related to the oil and gas industry increased their relative performance during the crisis to some degree, but they did not outperform the non-skill-related plants during the crisis.

Small and medium-sized enterprises in Russia: In search of the employment growth factors

During crises, discussions about the sources of employment intensify, including that of entrepreneurship. The growth of employment in the entrepreneurial sector is one of the national goals, which should be achieved up until 2030. However, the selection and verification of support measures requires the determination of the underlying growth factors. The paper proposes an econometric model, where the dependent variable is the growth of employment in the SME sector in the Russian regions over the previous decade. According to the results of the estimations, the creation of new companies is significant: one new enterprise creates on average 10 new jobs in small and medium-sized businesses, while a technological startup creates 60 new jobs next year. Employment growth in the last decade is higher in regions with growing incomes of the population, with good access to banking capital and large markets, and with low criminal risks. Increasing Internet accessibility contributes to the growth of the business sector; whereas nationalization of the economy is an obstacle. Employment is growing in SMEs in agricultural regions and decreasing in the centers of production. The efforts of the authorities should aim at lowering the barriers to market entry for the new companies, increasing access to capital, markets and the Internet, and stimulating the digitalization of the economy.

Small and medium-sized enterprises in Russia: In search of the employment growth factors

During crises, discussions about the sources of employment intensify, including that of entrepreneurship. The growth of employment in the entrepreneurial sector is one of the national goals, which should be achieved up until 2030. However, the selection and verification of support measures requires the determination of the underlying growth factors. The paper proposes an econometric model, where the dependent variable is the growth of employment in the SME sector in the Russian regions over the previous decade. According to the results of the estimations, the creation of new companies is significant: one new enterprise creates on average 10 new jobs in small and medium-sized businesses, while a technological startup creates 60 new jobs next year. Employment growth in the last decade is higher in regions with growing incomes of the population, with good access to banking capital and large markets, and with low criminal risks. Increasing Internet accessibility contributes to the growth of the business sector; whereas nationalization of the economy is an obstacle. Employment is growing in SMEs in agricultural regions and decreasing in the centers of production. The efforts of the authorities should aim at lowering the barriers to market entry for the new companies, increasing access to capital, markets and the Internet, and stimulating the digitalization of the economy.